Swimming lessons and other things that went swimmingly

Hazel, who happily splashes in the pool as long as she has hold of an inflatable ring, wasn’t thrilled to start swim lessons. I blame Andrew for that. Not his behavior, but his genes. He hated swimming, too, but he blames his parents because they didn’t enroll him in swim lessons until he was six or eight (his memory is terrible).

We signed up for Houston Swim Club, which seems pretty hard core, because they require you to come every day for two weeks. And they ask parents ahead of time to watch a (kind of hilarious) online orientation video full of warnings like “your child will get their face wet” and “water is scary.” We didn’t mention those parts to her, because we knew she’d figure out the first part on her own, and as for the scary part, Andrew is afraid enough for both of them.

But she made it through (tear free!), which was surprising because it combined a lot of things that she (and Andrew) dislike: 1. strangers, 2. getting her face wet and 3. being told what to do.

She even floated on her back (sort of).

I know the quality of this picture is terrible. You try shooting with a cell phone from behind a one-way mirror.

The best part was post-class lollipop reward.

The online video warns — warns! — that we’re not clear yet. While day one typically goes well, “days two and three may not be very easy, and can be filled with tears and anxiety.”